Top 10 most famous poems by Marina Tsvetaeva – poignant works about love

Marina Tsvetaeva (1892-1941) – Russian poetess of the Silver Age. In poetry, Tsvetaeva wanted to be diverse, and was looking for different ways for this. More than others, she succeeded in poems on philosophical and love themes. Her personality was mysterious – she often fell in love with both women and men. She even had a selfish need to fall in love with herself.

In the article we have collected the most famous poems of Marina Tsvetaeva. Let’s enjoy their reading by famous actresses and make a brief analysis of them.

10 You go, you look like me

Year of writing: 1913

This poem, like many others, was written in Koktebel when Marina Tsvetaeva was visiting Maximilian Voloshin (1877-1932) with her husband and daughter. Voloshin received the guests very warmly, and settled them in a separate house – the weather was conducive to reflection, and the house was empty at that time.

Young Tsvetaeva (at the time of writing the poem she was 20 years old) was interested in philosophical questions, one of which is dedicated to her poem “You go, you look like me– about the meaning of human life.

It is worth noting that Tsvetaeva was a superstitious person and believed that life after death does not end, but is only a transition to another life. And this topic cannot upset a person just because he does not know anything about another form of life. The style of the poem is light and even graceful.

9. You can’t be friends with me

Year of writing: 1918

Poem “You can’t be friends with me“is dedicated to the difficult relationship between two people – a man and a woman.

Already from the first line it can be understood that the lyrical heroine is critical of herself. The heroine compares herself to a windmill, whose task is to spin, and her lover to a longboat. This highlights their difference.

The heroine does not want to take love seriously, and suggests not to sigh over a childhood full of comedy. She does not want the feeling to take possession of her, so she finds the only right way out – to throw out all her emotions in a notebook.

Tsvetaeva leads us to the idea that one should not make tragedies out of one’s love experiences, but one should live for today.

8. Yesterday I looked into your eyes

Year of writing: 1920

Poem “Yesterday I looked into your eyes“Dedicated to the difficult relationship between Tsvetaeva and Mandelstam. It can be understood from the work that it was not easy for Marina Tsvetaeva to make the decision to remain friends, but the relationship has become obsolete.

The phrase is troubling:My dear, what have I done to you? The heroine of the poem does not even think of blaming her friend and does not make any attempts to keep him, but she is frightened by spiritual emptiness.

7. Distance: versts, miles

Year of writing: 1925

The meaning of the workDistance: versts, miles“Easiest to understand for those who know about the relationship between Tsvetaeva and Boris Pasternak. At the time when Marina Tsvetaeva was in exile, it was hard for her. Those who fled from the collapsing Soviet Union were not close to Tsvetaeva – neither in spirit nor in creativity, but it was not possible to return to their homeland.

Correspondence with Pasternak gave her strength, nourished her, and she wanted to continue composing. More than 10 years of correspondence of poets proves that they were kindred spirits, and it was painful for them to be at a distance from each other.

6. Between love and love

Year of writing: 1938

«Between love and love” Tsvetaeva wrote back in 1915, and, I must say, these years were painful for her. Interestingly, when rewriting her poems in a clean copy in 1938, Tsvetaeva transferred this poem to 1916 for the month of January, opening the next year for them.

She changed the first lines in it. With this, Tsvetaeva directed the poem, as it were, into the future, giving the words relating to the theme of love an expansive meaning: the poet becomes “crucified” between earthly and divine love.

5. How many of them fell into this abyss

Year of writing: 1913

Through the poemHow many of them fell into this abyss”, Written in the spirit of philosophical lyrics, Tsvetaeva metaphorically expressed her secret thoughts and experiences that torment her soul.

In her work, she says that nothing is permanent, everything has an end. “The day will come”, when the poetess herself will have to say goodbye to the world, disappear from the surface of the Earth … And the world will not change from this, on the contrary, it will only become more dynamic.

Lines: “And there will be life … And there was no me!“They say that Tsvetaeva thought about death, that one day she would have to give to the earth “debt”. To enhance expressiveness, the poetess uses a literary device – contrast, trying to achieve an image of beauty against the backdrop of a terrible and terrible coming future.

4. I will win you back from all lands, from all skies

Year of writing: 1916

In her poem, Marina Tsvetaeva described an avalanche of feelings that can demolish everything that comes her way. It expresses the appeal of the poetess to the whole world. The cry that broke her harmony is due to the manifestations of feelings that have flooded over her.

In the poem “I will win you back from all lands, from all skies» her confidence that it is necessary to live, overcoming all the obstacles that come across on the way, is clearly reflected, and on the other hand, one can notice the excessive vulnerability of the heroine of the work.

3. I like that you are not sick with me

Year of writing: 1915

This poem, as it turned out with the help of sister Tsvetaeva, was written about Mauritius Mints. The young man, who became the second husband of the poet’s sister, ended up in the Tsvetaevs’ house, and spent a lot of time with Anastasia. However, Marina Tsvetaeva also could not resist his charms. The man was delighted with her talent, but that’s all. As a woman, the poetess did not attract him.

The love was not mutual, but found its expression in a beautiful poem “I like that you are not sick with me”, which was presented to us by Marina Tsvetaeva.

The sisters were not in the habit of hiding anything from each other, and they both loved the same man. There are lines in the poem that she is not sick with him, but this is contrary to reality. In fact, Tsvetaeva would like to experience exciting moments of love with him, but this was impossible.

2. Your name is a bird in your hand

Year of writing: 1916

«Your name is a bird in your hand” represents a message: a lyric poem is addressed to a specific person. Often you can read the word in it “your”, which is typical for the genre of the message.

The poem is a direct response to the work of Alexander Blok, and expresses the attitude of Marina Tsvetaeva to his lyrics. Tsvetaeva highly valued Blok as a poet and loved him.

Using unexpected comparisons, the poet emphasizes the originality of Blok’s lyrics, his originality, which was her standard.

1. I keep repeating the first verse

Year of writing: 1941

Perhaps Marina Tsvetaeva was Tarkovsky’s muse and love, but he did not tell anyone about the secrets that kept his heart. Tsvetaeva had one feature – she memorized other people’s poems from the first lines.

Once Arseny Tarkovsky read to her a poem dedicated to the departed and dear to his heart people. Tsvetaeva wrote a response poem “I keep repeating the first verse».

However, she did not understand (or refused to understand) that Maria, Tarkovsky’s deceased lover, comes to dinner with Tarkovsky. Maybe, knowing about this circumstance, there were no reciprocal lines that sounded like hope for a turn of something more beautiful in their relationship.